The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-06-14
3 MAN WITHOUT A JAW.
Wounded With a Poisoned Spear in
an African Jungle.

an African Jungle.
From the Mem York Herald
A man without a jaw is Michael CASTELAR,,
who was recently admitted as patient to
Roosevelt Hospital.
He is Spaniard, about so years old, and
has spent much of his time at sea. Three
years ago the bark on which he was acting
as mate was driven ashore on the coast OF
Africa in a hurricane. Three sailors, beside
CASTELAR,, were the only ones who survived
the shipwreck, and one of the sailors, fortu-
nately, had been a member of an expedition
that had gone into the interior several years
before in search of ivory, and was familiar
with the country and the habits of the ma
tives. To get to the nearest civilized settle
ment required a journey of about 700 miles.
through thick jungles and miasmatic low
lands and over lofty mountains. The four
started on the weariSome march. At the
end of month two of the sailors died of
fever, and after their bodies had been de
Gently buried the survivors pressed onward
to the place of safety.
FEARFUL WOUND.
There was plenty of food in the wild
growing vegetation, birds nests and small
game and much danger from the wild
beasts and ferocious natives The two men
always avoided the natives whenever it was
possible, but on several occasions there were
hand to-hand conflicts, and the travellers
had many wound to testify to the agility
of the native born citizens. On one occa-
sion CASTELAR,, while fighting with native,
was struck i'll the face by long spear-like
weapon, the point of which was driven
through both cheeks. CASTELAR, grabbed
the weapon, and with a dexterous thrust
sent it into the black mans heart He car
:'ied the thing with him afterward. Some
leaves that the sailor gathered checked the
hemorrhage from the severe wound and
when they got to the settlement, about ten
DAYS later, the wound seemed to be healing
well
An English surgeon was visited, and to
save Disagreement from the imperfect heal
ing he reopened the wound and sewed it up
in the regular way. But the wound did not
heal as readily as had been anticipated, and
the flesh sloughed away in surprising man
ner. CASTELAR, lost flesh, became exceedingly
weak, and in time his skin became a dark
copper color. Then the surgeon, on ex-
amining the weapon with which the wound
was made, found that it was the traviah or
poisonous spear. The head of the spear is
dipped in vegetable poison known only to
the natives, which, though it acts slowly, is
believed by them to produce certain death
An antidote was given and had the effect of
improving the patients condition and
rendering the skin q natural color. The ex-
was constant soreness and twinges of pain in
both jaws.
CASTELAR, was so completely run down
that he was advised to take sea voyage,
and when tramp steamer came into the
port he shipped on her, bound for China and
thence to this city. Throughout the long
voyage CASTELAR, did not have a moments
peace. The motion of the vessel seemed to
aggrevate the pain in his jaws, and on the
trip from China here he would have been
turned over to the fishes if the Captain had
not been unusually mild for his calling
The day of his arrival he was removed to
Roosevelt Hospital, and his case was care
fully studied in the Light of the history of
the injury
A WONDERFUL OPERATION.
From the symptoms and the gradual de-
cline in the patients health, the conclusion
was reached by DR.. Spencer that the patient
had a cancerous tumor involving both jaws
As to how far the condition of the Jaws was
due to the incubation from the poison was
matter of doubt. Some of the consulting
physicians held that it had nothing to do
with it. But it was decided that extirpa-
ton of the jaw was necessary. The patient
was taken to the operating room the day
after his admission to the hospital and
placed under the influence of ether. and the
operation was successfully and skillfully
performed. What was left did not look
much like face.
The wound has now nearly healed, the
patient is recovering strength, but his face
is as flat as a pancake. An attempt will be
made as soon as the tenderness is gone to
put in AN artificial rubber jaw to give the
face natural appearance If the patient
can get used to the Inconvenience there will
not be much leformity left in the contour,
though, of course, the scars will show some
thing of what he has gone through. Wheth-
er there will be permanent cure cannot be
told for a year.